postmortem

postmortem

[pōst-mor´tem]

performed or occurring after death.

Care of the body after death (postmortem care) is an essential component of the total care of the patient and surviving family members and friends. Specific policies and procedures for postmortem care are a matter of agency policy, local customs, and cultural and religious ritual.

Physical care of the body is based on certain changes that take place at a fairly predictable rate, depending on body temperature at the time of death, and environmental temperature once death has taken place. The size of the body and the presence or absence of bacterial infection also influence these changes.

Rigor mortis is the first of these changes after cessation of circulation and respiration. Within two to four hours after death depletion of glycogen stores prevents synthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Without ATP the muscle fibers do not relax, resulting in rigid contraction of the fibers and immobilization of the joints. The rigor first occurs in the involuntary muscles and then involves the voluntary musculature, starting with the head and neck and descending gradually to the trunk and lower extremities. The process usually takes about 45 hours and continues for about 96 hours.

Another noticeable change is cooling of the body, which occurs rather rapidly once circulation stops and the heat-regulating center in the brain no longer is functioning. This postmortem loss of body heat is called algor mortis.

Decomposition of the tissues begins almost as soon as blood supply stops. With the breakdown of hemoglobin, discoloration, or livor mortis, appears as mottled, reddened areas that can be mistaken for bruises, particularly in the extremities or other parts of the body where there is pooling of blood. As deterioration of tissues continues and bacterial fermentation occurs, the tissues soften and then liquefy. Refrigeration or some other method of cooling the body inhibits this process.

post·mor·tem (PM),

(pōst-mōr'tĕm),

1. Pertaining to or occurring during the period after death. See also: autopsy (1).

post·mor·tem

Postmortem

postmortem

performed or occurring after death.

postmortem decomposition

changes that take place at a fairly predictable rate, depending on body temperature at the time of death, and environmental temperature once death has taken place. The size of the body and the presence or absence of bacterial infection also influence these changes.

Rigor mortis is the first of these changes after cessation of circulation and respiration. Within 2 to 4 hours after death depletion of glycogen stores prevents synthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Without ATP the muscle fibers do not relax, resulting in rigid contraction of the fibers and immobilization of the joints. The rigor first occurs in the involuntary muscles and then involves the voluntary musculature, starting with the head and neck and descending gradually to the trunk and lower extremities. The process usually takes about 45 hours and continues for about 96 hours.

Another noticeable change is cooling of the body, which occurs rather rapidly once circulation stops and the heat-regulating center in the brain no longer is functioning. This postmortem loss of body heat is called algor mortis.

Decomposition of the tissues begins almost as soon as blood supply stops. With the breakdown of hemoglobin, discoloration, or livor mortis, appears as mottled, reddened areas that can be mistaken for bruises, particularly in the extremities or other parts of the body where there is a pooling of blood. As deterioration of tissues continues and bacterial fermentation occurs the tissues soften and then liquefy. Refrigeration or some other method of cooling the body inhibits this process.

postmortem examination

a careful dissection of a cadaver with the objective of deciding the cause of death. Called also autopsy or necropsy examination.

postmortem inspection

that part of a meat inspection or food inspection at an abattoir that is conducted after the animal has been killed and dressed. Supplements the antemortem examination.

postmortem report

a detailed report of a postmortem examination of a cadaver, including a complete identification of the animal, the body condition, age, sex, species, breed, parity and the changes observed.

The 4-minute rule is based on studies of fetal physiology, as well as on a review of close to 300 postmortem C-sections that showed a dramatic falloff of favorable outcomes when the procedure began more than 5 minutes after the mother's heart stopped (Obstet, Gynecol, 68[4]:571-76, 1986).

Although the patient had died before a late convalescent-phase serum sample could be obtained for a confident exclusion of SARS-CoV infection by serologic testing, the nasopharyngeal aspirate collected on admission and the postmortem lung tissue were negative for SARS-CoV by RT-PCR.

Furthermore, to determine whether these changes in dialysate DA concentrations provide a more sensitive index of altered DA function than do changes in postmortem tissue DA concentrations, we measured striatal tissue DA concentrations in male rats of the same age, exposed to PCBs for identical periods of time.

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